Numistian

Numistians are a planar race of traders native to a demiplane or a series of demiplanes located on the Astral Plane. They are shopkeepers, craftsmen, slavers, and entertainers. Anything that could
be sold, a numistian could sell it. Over the ages, numistians have spread throughout the multiverse, and some groups of numistians have even lost track of where they originated.

Nowadays, most numistians encountered are native
born; their parents or grandparents decided to set up permanent shop in
the Prime Material plane. The race can be encountered nearly anywhere,
however, with some that are native
to where they are encountered, and others just passing through on the
way to a sale. Numistians rarely get homesick, unless home is also where
the money is.

Numistians in your Game

Numistians, despite their alien heritage, have the distinct advantage of
appearing familiar to most other races. Some can even pass as human or elven,
with certain features covered or disguised. While distrust will be
apparent when dealing with any new race, the numistian should find
miniscule prejudice among humans, elves, dwarves and other races with similar features.

Numistians also adopt the style of the area that they do business in.
Clothes are important to a numistian, and whatever a society considers
most fashionable, a numistian will deem most desirable. This alone will
help them fit in well with the majority, as they are not fixated on
racial traditions or cultural preferences prevalent in most other races.

In campaigns with different money systems, the numistian should be
slightly adjusted to reflect the type of currency available. Simply
convert the coin values presented in this text to whatever common
currency that your campaign uses.

Numistians are presented here as a fairly fresh race to the
world. The relative anonymity of their home world rendered it nearly
nonexistent to the realm of the adventurers. The Gamemaster
can introduce this new astral realm and its inhabitants as he sees fit.
Numistians do not need to be intertwined with your existing campaign
history. This allows them to be placed in virtually any campaign setting
with little work. As is, they require almost no adjustment to your
world to begin play immediately.

However, if the back story will not work with your campaign, there are
alternatives. In games with a different cosmology, the numistian can
come from an alternate dimension, or even a free-floating demiplane. If
other planes of existence are absent entirely, the numistian could be a
natural creature, descended from a fanatic race of merchant people. They
could also be the living representatives of a money god; a sacred race
of capitalists and entrepreneurs.

Whatever the case, the numistian will make a welcome addition to any
game as bookkeeper of the group, an unusual option for a player seeking to play a greedy character, a challenge for the player who wants their
character to be rich, or even a fun alternative for those who want to be
well-dressed with an eye for the finer things in life.

Physical Description: Numistians look similar to humans, with long, narrow noses and slightly pointed ears. However, it would be
difficult to describe the height and general appearance of a numistian,
as both are variable. At rest, they appear as a wrinkled, elderly
individual, roughly 3 feet tall. At this height, they are fairly squat
and might even be mistaken for a very short dwarf. However, they can double their height to 6 feet, or appear as any height in-between.

When they increase height, their skin stretches taught and appears smooth and youthful. At 6 feet tall, they look somewhat elven,
with narrow features and long, delicate limbs. Thus, with a minor
disguise, they can infiltrate nearly any mortal community — short or
tall. If age is respected in the community they are in, a numistian may
appear a bit shorter and older. If youth would be an asset, they can
appear tall and vibrant. The numistian is a natural marketing chameleon.

However, numistians do have a few distinguishing and immutable traits. First, their pale skin has a metallic luster which can appear coppery, silvery, or even golden. Second, they have a third eye in the center of their forehead. While the two eyes in the normal position are often a cloudy blue or grey, the third eye is perfectly round, cat-like, and brilliant green. They often hide this eye with the aid of a hat, helmet, or turban.

While males have no hair on their heads, or most of their bodies, they do tend to grow long white, pale blue, or grey colored beards and mustaches, regardless of their age. Females have long hair on their heads of the same colors as the male’s beards.

Numistian gender cues are entirely superficial. Males and females, from the waist down, are identically featureless. Neither gender has nipples,
though females have the slight suggestion
of breasts. Both genders tend to dress in clothing common to the realm
that they are traveling in, though they do prefer the fanciest styles. A
numistian’s clothing often appears ill-fitting because of their ability
to change height and girth.

Ecology & Society: Biologically, the numistian is a complete alien. First, they have no
organs; they are basically a dry husk filled with glittery sand, coins,
and a collapsible skeleton.
An injured numistian actually bleeds sand and coins. Numistians have no
sense of taste, and do not eat food, nor drink liquids. Instead, they
ingest gold, silver, and copper coins. In some unknowable way, these
coins act as nourishment and are eventually absorbed by the numistian’s
body. In a sitting, they eat as many coins as the cost of a typical
meal. Of course, they can eat more if desired.

Numistians can however smell things and can sniff out precious metals. They can generally tell what sort of metal is nearby and in what quantity. Their two normal eyes are very close to a human’s in acuity, though many suffer from nearsightedness. This is compensated by the third eye which is highly sensitive, and has low-light vision and provides the numistian with its detect coins racial trait. Their pointed ears are as keen as an elf’s.

All numistians carry a certain amount of mystical coins within their body. This money appears to bleed from them when they lose hit points.
The type of coin changes with the numistian’s level—copper for a
numistian of under 6th level, silver for those between 6th and 12th level, and gold for those over 12th level. The coins, however, are completely insubstantial and disappear as the numistian is healed. One mystical coin bleeds for every hit point lost.

A numistian’s mystical coins also serve as a reproductive tool. When a male passes half of his mystic coins to a female, a numistian infant is conceived. Six months later, a small golden egg is expelled from the mouth of the female. The egg hatches immediately when placed on a small
pile of gold pieces, and the infant ravenously eats all of the coins.

Growth is dependent on how much money the child eats. The child reaches
adult-size when it consumes at least one thousand gold pieces in coins.
Emotionally and mentally, numistians mature similarly to humans. Numistians also have a lifespan similar to humans, though they remain vibrant and healthy most of their lives. Towards the end of their lifespan, they begin to bleed
coins spontaneously from their coin pool. It is subtle at first,
starting with only a few coins a day. Numistians have even been known to
hide this disorder for months. Eventually, the condition worsens and
the numistian succumbs to death from old age.

To a numistian, money is life. They live for the clatter of coins, the thrill of the sale, and the pride of being wealthy. Each numistian goes about his own quest in his own way. Many are innovative entrepreneurs, seeking out new markets or interesting ways to sell old ideas. Others seek riches through treasure hunting or pirating. Some numistians may even hone one particular skill to perfection and use it to make their livelihood.

Whatever the means, numistians are all business. They have little time for romance, find entertainment to be more of a commodity than a pleasure, and generally shun any emotional endeavors that will not give them some sort of gain. Still, they know the intricacies of charm, the flair of personality, and the power of good humor—as all are needed to be successful in the world of commerce. Cold-hearted as their true nature may be, a numistian’s demeanor is friendly and warm. Unfortunately, loyalty, honor, and amity may easily go to the highest bidder.

Relations: Numistians make a point to get along with all races, as all races have
money to spend. They are often students of culture; learning the
language and customs of a race to better interact. Their accommodating
demeanors grants them acceptance by most core races. Their weakest
relations are with elves, which tend to view the motives of the
numistian to be disingenuous, and often have trouble trusting them.
Their strongest compatibility is with dwarves, who share their love of gold and direct approach towards acquisition of that gold.

Relations to Remarkable Races: Numistians harbor no prejudices towards other races, save perhaps the
mahrogs who they rarely interact with. They are especially close with
the industrious oaklings who recognize the importance of having good
merchant contacts. Boggles often share business associations with the
numistians, who are always on the lookout for the next great invention.

Alignment and Religion: The overwhelming majority of numistians are lawful, though those of good, evil, and neutral
alignments are mixed evenly. A chaotically aligned numistian is
typically a ruthless pirate that even his fellow kinsmen would scarcely
deal with.

Adventurers: Numistians often excel at certain human
callings, particularly in the religious sector. A numistian can easily
relate to the selfless zeal with which one pursues a religion, as they
do the same with money. In addition, nearly all faiths that have temples
or churches require finance. Numistian clerics and paladins
often become extremely successful evangelists; collecting both large
sacks of coin and throngs of new followers. While a pleasant percentage
of spoils stays in their personal accounts, the organizations for which
they collect benefit nicely from a numistian’s exploits.

Of the other adventuring numistians, rogues
are most often encountered. These treasure-seekers make their coin
through plunder, theft, and con-artistry. Still other numistians turn to
the arcane arts, searching for a way to turn magic into money, either
directly, or by selling their services to those who need them.

+2 Wisdom, +2 Charisma, -2 Strength: While both clever and charming as a fox, the numistian also lacks physical strength due to its unusual anatomy.

Adjustable Size: As a move action,
a numistian can become Small if Medium-sized, or Medium if Small-sized.
They can be any height between 3 and 6 feet tall. Becoming Small-sized
limits one to Small-sized weapons, but also grants a +1 size bonus to AC and attack rolls, a -1 penalty to CMB and CMD, and a +4 size bonus to Stealth skill checks.

Slow and Steady: Like dwarves, numistians have a base speed of 20 feet, but their speed is not modified by armor or encumbrance.

Low-Light Vision: Numistians can see twice as far as humans in conditions of dim light.

Bribe Fate: Once per day, when a numistian fails a saving throw, he may lose half his level in hit points (minimum 1 point) to reroll that saving throw. This trait is used as an immediate action after the first save is attempted, but before the results are revealed by the GM. The numistian must take the second result, even if it is worse. The hit point loss bypasses damage reduction.

Detect Coins: Metallic money shines like a candle to a numistian’s eyesight. They gain a +4 racial bonus to Perception skill checks to notice coins. In addition, numistians can see coins in darkness and through any material that is less than one inch thick.

Money is Life: As a standard action, a numistian may consume up to 200 gold pieces to cure 1d8+ the numistian’s Wisdom modifier in hit points
per 50 gp consumed. Gold pieces must be consumed in 50 gp increments,
as lesser amounts are consumed with no effect. Alternatively, the
numistian may consume up to 100 platinum pieces in the same way, curing
10 hit points
per character level of the numistian for every 25 pp consumed. Platinum
pieces must be ingested in 25 pp increments. Excess coins are digested
normally.

Racial Classes and/or Prestige Classes

Alternative Racial Traits

You can exchange one or several of your character’s normal racial Traits, but of course you cannot exchange the same racial trait more than once.

As with any alternate or optional rule, you must first get the permission of your GM to exchange any of your character’s normal racial Traits for those listed here.

Favored Class Alternatives

Instead of receiving an additional skill rank or hit point whenever they gain a level in a Favored Class, numistians have the option of choosing from a number of other bonuses, depending upon their Favored Classes. The following options are available to all numistians who have the listed Favored Class, and unless otherwise stated, the bonus applies each time you select the listed Favored Class reward.